Lesson Study: Guided Practice

Bobbi Campbell contributed today's post. More of Bobbi's thinking can be found here.

Recently, our literacy team  developed a sample lesson plan including the dialogue and actions of the teacher as well as the dialogue and actions of the students.  Making the thinking visible within the lesson plan allows for an opportunity for educators to be involved in a lesson study. During a lesson study, school-based teams can identify the areas where guided practice is visible, as well as identify other areas where guided practice can be inserted. The videos found within the Tools and Resources: Guided Practice can be used to prompt further discussion and collaboration.

For this lesson, we highlighted guided practice during a lesson on the following content standard:

• Use words, phrases, and clauses [ to link the major sections of the text], create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. (CCSS ELA W.9-10.1.c)

Note:  While I typically work with middle schools, I have added one high school this year as evidenced by the grade 9 standard.  Please note the new learning in the standard which is indicated by the use of brackets [ ].

The strategies used are explicitly labeled and examples are provided within the lesson plan where you will see a lesson on using co-constructed anchor charts to improve student writing. Don’t be daunted by the length of the lesson, as it is 16 pages due to the fact that all Teacher Talk, Teacher Moves, Student Talk, and Student Moves are all included within the lesson.

Links to the Tools and Resources:

Tools and Resources: Guided Practice: This document includes research articles and videos.

Example Grade 9 ELA Lesson Plan : This lesson can be used for a lesson study.

What’s it like to be in a session with Diane Sweeney?

Bobbi Campbell contributed today's posts. Bobbi's recent posts focus on her learning around student centered coaching (facilitated by Diane Sweeney).

This blog entry is an example of a full-day professional development opportunity with Diane Sweeney, including coaching reflections and notes in response to the content.

The essential questions for the session were:

• EQ1: How can a coach guide goal setting towards culturally and linguistically responsive instructional practices?
• EQ2: What are some coaching skills that bring about culturally and linguistically responsive instructional practices?
• EQ3: How might learning labs create opportunities for teacher collaboration in MMSD?

Read about the content of the session and Bobbi's notes (shared in PDF using GoogleDrive).

Student Centered Coaching: How Do We Change Teacher Practice Through the Art of Questioning ?

Bobbi Campbell contributed today's post. Read more of Bobbi's posts about student centered coaching here.

January is always the time of year when I feel most reflective and commit to changing something that I can control.  This year I am committing to changing my questioning techniques. I want to try to use David Perkins research on offering meaningful feedback to teachers and coaches in order to increase student learning.

We all know that truly changing instructional practice comes from the choice within the person needing to change.  That is what is so glorious about student-centered coaching - the focus is on the student, not the teacher.  It is through the art of questioning from the coach that can

move teachers to finding the answers within themselves. The overall purpose of the coaching is always on the student learning.

Perkins (2003), states that offering meaningful feedback can be categorized by the following:

1. Clarifying questions or statements
2. Value statements or questions
3. Questions or possibility statements

To help facilitate coaching conversations, here are a few talk stems from,“Coaching Conversations: Transforming YOur School One Conversation at a Time”  by Cheliotes and Reilly.

Clarifying Questions:

• “How do you see this different from…?”
• “How did your students respond to this process?”
• “What gaps did you notice within your student work samples?”

Value Statements/Questions:

• “You have really thought about this deeply.”
• “I see evidence of…”
• “It provides high engagement for students by…”

Reflective questions or possibilities:

• “What are you considering in regard to…”
• “What connections have you made to…”
• “I wonder what would happen if…”

I highly recommend reading the entire book! In closing, remember when giving feedback, ask yourself the following questions:  is the feedback productive? Is it specific enough to result in a change in practice? Is it respectful?

The Amazing Adventures of Student-Centered Coaching!

Bobbi Campbell contributed today's post.

The Amazing Adventures of Student-Centered Coaching - Featuring, Diane Sweeney!

Interactive Blog Series by Bobbi Campbell

Diane gives new meaning to the word practical.  Unassuming, she arrives and begins a discussion, using her realistic research to engage Madison Instructional Coaches.

Diane Sweeney, Student-Centered Coaching Guru, is an educator, mother, friend, and Professional Developer.  Although, I have not personally established a close friendship with Diane, as an audience member, you feel as if you are in her kitchen with a strong cup of coffee discussing and solving the problems we encounter as educators.

Our district jourrney began with Diane  in the Spring of 2014, as we forged a partnership with the Universityof Wisconsin, Madison. Through research and support by the UW, we finally decided that student-centered coaching was indeed the model for us.  In September, Diane began our first coaching session with a comparison of three coaching models: Student-Centered, Teacher-Centered, and Relationship-Driven Coaching.

What do you think the differences are among the three models listed? (Use the link, page 7)

As we investigated where we as coaches felt most comfortable, we discovered that most of us had been operating as relationship-driven coaches.  What is wrong with forming relationships with the teachers you coach?  That is what I was thinking the first time I looked at the chart located on page 7 of her book, Student-Centered Coaching at the Secondary-Level.
So, what could possibly be wrong with this type of model?
Of course there is nothing wrong with forming relationships, but if we stay there and never move forward, therein lies the problem. The bottom line is, if we want more impact on student achievement, we need to focus on student learning targets. Next, we need to analyze student work to analyze progress, design instruction based on formative data and select appropriate text and technology as a tool for moving kids on the continuum of the learning progression.  Whew!  We can do all of this alone, but what if we had a thinking partner?  That is what student-centered coaching is all about - partnering with a focus on student data.  Next interactive blog will focus on Coaching Teachers to Assess and Deliver.